Pumps Must Hate Winter

I suppose a rational person would just shut down the pond during the winter versus go through all the trials and tribulations necessary to keep things working in sub-zero temperatures.  I suppose I just defined myself as irrational as I keep plugging away each winter to keep things working.

I have my giant iron persuader to discourage ice but the pond will still freeze over and the waterfalls will become ice dams.  The water level will drop as the ice builds.  The pump will suck air thus risking burn out.  Less water flow means more ice buildup.  I will have frozen extremities from doing battle with the ice.  I have backup garden hoses in case I don't drain a hose properly during the cold mornings.  So far I've been able to rationalize my way past these obstacles.

On Saturday I hit a new challenge that just about put me over the edge.  It's the pump... one winter in a row I had no problems with the pump and now I'm back at it again. 

The pump must have joined some organized work slowdown as less and less water was coming over the falls.  I noticed this earlier in the week and tried just unplugging the pump, let it back wash a little and then replug it and found the flow returned fairly well... maybe 70 to 80 percent.  After a day or two the slowdown would return.  I dreaded removing the pump as that requires someone, me, to actually stick both hands in the water and try and loosen the coupling that connects the pump to the pipes. 

Saturday the weather warmed to above freezing for the first time in quite a while.  I decided I should go for it with the sun out versus having a complete shutdown during a storm (remember the quote from Murphy Jr.,  "My father was an optimist!"). 

I wanted to try and drain the skimmer by covering the hole in front with a shower curtain.  I messed with it and actually got the water to go down past the coupling.  The problem was it leaked.  I would unplug the pump and try to turn the coupling nut but it was not cooperating and the water quickly refilled the skimmer.  I messed with it for a while and finally got the nut loose... the coupling nut that is... and reached down into the icy water and removed the pump.

To my chagrin I found nothing obstructing the pump and the skimmer quickly filled to the top with water.

I took a deep breath as I plunged my hand and arm as well as the pump into the water, setting the pump on the bottom of the skimmer.  Then I needed to reconnect the coupling nut.  Damn that water is cold.  My hands didn't want to hold onto the nut.  My hands didn't want to work at all.  I decided to try and just align the pipes and then turn on the pump with the hope that enough water would be forced up the pipe to get the water level low enough to secure the coupling without my hands having to be in the water.

That was a mistake.  If, in the future, I ever try this again I will stand back as a pump that outputs around 7000 gallons per hour will put up quite a spray of water... cold, icy water... to the tune of 4 or 5 feet through any crack (or unsecured coupling). 

Once dried off and after taking a "get warm" break I just plunged my hands into the icy depths, with resolve, and after a couple of tries was able to get the coupling nut tight.  I then turned on the pump and magically it was working at 100%. 

I can't explain what the problem was but surmise it could have been something in the pipe that was jiggled loose by the on/off action with the pump or possibly there is something laying in the bottom of the skimmer just waiting to replug the intake on the pump.

A couple of hours later I was talking with my son and telling him about the trials and tribulations of pond maintenance and he asked me why I didn't just use a syphon to keep the water in the skimmer at bay.  Hmmmm... good question.  Maybe my brain was as frozen as my hands.

Whoohoo!